London: Representatives of Internet search giant Google are to be summoned to appear before European data protection officials amid concerns over the way the firm collects web users’ data.

The US search company will be asked to explain why it has not taken "any precise measures" to change its privacy policy since October 2012, when authorities found it was in breach of European law.

An inquiry by European privacy regulators, led by France's CNIL, criticised Google for its "uncontrolled" and "excessive" collection of information about Internet users, in some cases without their consent.

According to the Guardian, the authorities have raised concerns about changes Google introduced to its privacy policies in March last year.

The changes were made to "unify" how information is collected across approximately 60 products, including YouTube GoogleMail, Google has said.

But an investigation by the data protection bodies concluded that the company gives insufficient information or control to its users about how it handles their information, the report said.

The watchdogs recommended Google change its policy to allow users to choose when their information is combined and make it easier for people to opt out, it added.